


What's in the Box?

by killerweasel



Series: Tied Up and Twisted [1]
Category: Good Omens (TV Series)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Torture, mentions of graphic injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:55:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,615
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25786960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: Crowley and Aziraphale get a gift from Hell. It's worse than you think.
Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Series: Tied Up and Twisted [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872667
Comments: 3
Kudos: 73





	What's in the Box?

Title: What's in the Box?  
Fandom: Good Omens (TV Series)  
Characters: Crowley, Aziraphale, Hastur  
Pairings: Aziraphale/Crowley  
Word Count: 1,574  
Rating: R  
A/N: After Episode 6  
Summary: Crowley and Aziraphale get a gift from Hell. It's worse than you think.

"That was such a delightful film! I'm so glad you talked me into it, my boy." Aziraphale trailed off when he noticed an antique wooden box sitting on the porch of the cottage. "Did you order something?" He turned around when he failed to get any sort of response. "Crowley? What's wrong?"

The demon had lost all the color in his face. "I know what that is." His hands started shaking. "I've been in it before."

"In it?" Aziraphale stared at him in confusion. "How would you even fit properly? It's half your size!"

"I'd tell you, but you're about to find out because we need to open it." Crowley's stomach did a series of flips and he was very glad he hadn't eaten anything at the theater. He took several deep breaths. "That's a Hellish punishment. If you fuck up, I mean really fuck up, you go in there for an unspecified amount of time. And they make you fit if you're too big."

"Oh dear Lord." Aziraphale clapped a hand over his mouth. "Does that mean?"

"Someone's in there." Crowley started walking towards the porch. "They're going to be half mad with pain, not to mention they've been in utter darkness for however long. There will be a symbol somewhere on the skin. It keeps them awake and seals away their powers. They can't heal, they can't rest."

"What do we do?" Aziraphale was just a few steps behind Crowley as they approached the box. "How do we help?"

"We have to get them out. I know where to press on the box. They're going to start screaming as soon as it opens. I'm glad we don't have any neighbors close by." He ran a hand through his hair. "What doesn't make sense is why they are here instead of Down Below. Unless they thought we would be a worse punishment."

"Us?" Out of everything, this seemed to upset Aziraphale the most. "I don't understand."

"We're about to find out." Crowley started pressing spots of the box. There were a series of metallic clicks followed by a grinding sound. "That'll do it. When they are loose, I am going to see if I can find the mark and burn it off with a bit of Hellfire. Then you need to knock them unconscious so we can work on fixing the mess."

As the lid on the box opened a fraction, a shriek of agony came from inside. The screaming continued as the sides of the box fell away. The demon inside was naked with their limbs bent in unnatural ways. In more than one place, bones were jutting out through the skin. They were covered in dried and fresh blood. The screaming grew in intensity until Aziraphale had to cover his ears.

Crowley leaned over, shielding the screamer from the sunlight to prevent them from temporarily going blind. The demon was pale, almost corpse white, but he knew of dozens of very pale demons. It wasn't until he shifted position to get near their face, that he realized exactly who he was looking at. Now he knew why they'd been given a 'gift'. "Oh fuck, that's Hastur."

The sounds coming from Hastur's throat weren't even close to be words. It was just one long animalistic scream of pain. Crowley spotted a symbol carved into Hastur's shoulder. A snap of his fingers made a very small flame of Hellfire appear. When he touched the Hellfire to Hastur's skin, the other demon let out a shriek loud enough to rattle the windows of the cottage. "Now, Aziraphale!"

"Rest now." The angel pressed his hand against Hastur's forehead. After a few moments, the screaming changed to whimpers before stopping completely. "I may have put more power behind that than I should have, but he's in so much pain."

"The deeper the sleep, the better. We're going to have to set all of those broken bones before we can even think about treating the other injuries." Crowley shook his head. "Or, we could just put him out of his misery. He'll show up back in Hell and eventually they'll issue him a new body. Though, if they were willing to do this, he might go back into the box."

"Seriously!?"

"It's Hell, angel." Crowley turned to look at the box and discovered it had vanished. "Do we help him or do we make him someone else's problem?"

"We'll help him, of course." Aziraphale wrung his hands. "This is more damage than I've ever dealt with. I might need your assistance with how to repair a few things."

"I'll talk you through it."

\---

Hastur woke with a gasp. He tried to open his eyes, but something was on his face. He could feel things on his wrists and ankles, holding him in place. He couldn't smell his regular clothing and whatever he was wearing was soft and comfortable. "Please. Please. I won't ever do it again. I shouldn't have done it. It was stupid. Please."

"Hastur." Crowley placed his hand very gently on the other demon's chest. "You're safe now. I'm going to take the bandage off of your eyes. I've got the lights turned down because I have no idea how long you were in the box. Give yourself a moment to adjust."

"Crowley?" The word was barely above a whisper. "You can do whatever you want to me, just don't put me back in there. Please."

"I won't. I promise." Cowley reached out, snagging the edge of the bandage. He carefully pulled it off of Hastur's head. "If we were going to hurt you, we wouldn't have gone through the trouble of healing you first. You're safe. No more harm will come to you."

Hastur opened his eyes slowly. He squinted in the semi-darkness before focusing on Crowley's face. "You let me out. I've tried to kill you and you still let me out of there."

"Yes, I did. Never been one to enjoy the suffering of others, even if that means you, Hastur." Crowley sat back. "I'm going to take the restraints off your arms and legs. We had to set quite a few bones and we were worried you might thrash around in your sleep and hurt yourself before you had the chance to really heal. You can leave whenever you feel like. We're not going to keep you here against your will."

"You're seriously not going to keep me tied up?" Hastur's mouth fell open in shock. "But I could attack you or your angel."

"Are you planning on doing that?" Crowley's grip tightened on Hastur's ankle. "Because I can put these back on."

"No." He looked away. "I just... this isn't how others would act."

"In case you haven't noticed, we aren't like anyone else. We're our own side."

Just as Crowley finished removing the final restraint, there was a knock on the door. Aziraphale came inside, holding a tray with some food on it. "I wasn't sure if you were the type of demon who would actually eat, but I thought you could probably use a little comfort food. I've got a toasted cheese sandwich, some soup, and a glass of lemonade. If you want something else, let me know."

Hastur blinked in confusion. "He's an angel." Crowley nodded. "And he's being nice to me?" Crowley nodded again. "Is this some sort of trick?"

"It's just the way Aziraphale is." Crowley sat on the edge of the bed next to Hastur. "Like I said, we're not going to harm you. We can leave if you'd rather be alone."

"No!" Hastur grabbed Crowley by the wrist. "I really don't want to be alone for a while. Could you two stay, at least until I've eaten?"

"Of course, my dear." Aziraphale snapped his fingers, making two comfortable chairs appear in the front of the room. "We'll be right over here. If you need anything, just ask."

Hastur had finished the sandwich and was halfway through his bowl of soup when he paused. "I attacked Beelzebub. Said it wasn't fair Crowley got away with killing Ligur and then could just walk away after the Holy water didn't work. After a week of torture, she and Dagon took turns, Beelzebub put me into the box herself."

"That's why you were brought here. You're a peace offering." Crowley shook his head. "This was her way of saying Hell is going to leave us alone, angel. It's a gift of a fallen enemy. Can you imagine what someone like Gabriel or Sandalphon would do if they were given a demon to play with?" He shuddered.

"You can stay as long as you'd like, Hastur." Aziraphale gave him a smile. "You'll be a guest, not a prisoner or some sort of gift. When you're feeling up to it, I can give you a tour of the place. We just got the most delightful little set of furniture for the kitchen."

"This is all actually happening, right? I'm not still in the box going mad?" Hastur pinched himself. "I might stick around for a bit. Not exactly in a rush to go back to Hell just yet. The other Dukes will get in my face and I'll have to prove I'm worth the title I have."

"Looks like we've got our very first guest, my dear boy." Aziraphale nudged Crowley with his shoulder.

"Never would have expected a guest to be him. It should be interesting, angel."


End file.
